The Best London Restaurant Openings This February
By Something CuratedHighlighting this month’s most promising restaurant launches, Something Curated takes a closer look at what to try, as well as the founders and proprietors behind the new openings.
Maremma || Alice Staple & Dickie Bielenberg
Maremma is inspired by regional dishes from coastal southern Tuscany, an area famed for its saumi, seafood, olive groves and vineyards. In traditional Italian style, the menu is split into four sections; antipasti, primi, secondi and dolce, featuring dishes such as la bistecca alla Fiorentina, wild boar prosciutto, and tortelli Maremmani. On the corner of Brixton Water Lane, the space itself is open and airy with a quartz-topped bar and oak tables from the Maremma region.
36 Brixton Water Lane, SW2 1PE
Xier || Carlo Scotto
https://www.instagram.com/p/Blc3hTCBoAl/
Chef Carlo Scotto, an alumnus of Angela Hartnett, and ex-Babbo chef, will launch his first solo restaurant, Xier, in Marylebone this month. Divided into two distinct spaces, it will comprise a 62-cover, ground floor casual dining restaurant, called XR, with a more ambitious 38-cover dining room, Xier, above. The food will draw inspiration from Naples-born Scotto’s upbringing and travels through Europe and Asia.
13-14 Thayer Street, W1U 3JR
Gloria || Victor Lugger & Tigrane Seydoux
With a focus on homemade food, fresh pasta and authentic Italian cooking, Gloria will be spread over 2 huge floors with room for up to 160 seated guests. Evoking the feel of Capri in the 70s, the eatery’s interiors have been designed by Studio Kiki. There is a main dining room filled with Carrara marble from Tuscany, as well as a subterranean dining room that stays open till 2am.
54-56 Great Eastern St, EC2A 3QR
Peg || Phil Bracey, Will Gleave & Byron Fini
Peg will be a counter seating restaurant led by P. Franco and Bright’s Phil Bracey. Decidedly relaxed with a distinctive edit of wines, simple food, and a small team, Byron Fini will be taking on the head chef role. Although partly inspired by a trip to Japan, with grilled skewer dishes featuring on the menu, the kitchen will not be focussed on one regional style of cuisine, embracing a breadth of international influences.
120 Morning Lane, E9 6LH
W12 Studios || Rory Graham, Joshua Moroney, Zoe Adjonyoh & More
W12 Studios, from Rory Graham, previously of Kricket, in partnership with Feast-it, will be a space to showcase some of the city’s best creative talent across food, drink and music with a changing line-up across all three areas. The 450 capacity venue will feature large communal tables and two rotating kitchens, with street food favourites The Piadina Project and Cue Point opening first, and Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen to follow in March.
White City Place, 195 Wood Lane, W12 7TU
Vintry Kitchen || Chris Golding
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqkZj10HyNR/
The City’s getting a new independent hotel by the name of Vintry & Mercer, and along with it, two new restaurants, and a cocktail bar. The Vintry Kitchen, helmed by chef Chris Golding, ex-Nobu, Nahm at the Halkin and Zuma, will be a relaxed, open-plan set-up serving Asian inspired fare, with dishes like Scottish scallop carpaccio with cucumber, yuzu and caviar, along with steamed buns and sandwiches with fillings like chicken karaage and kimchi, or wagyu beef, Japanese mustard and pickled cabbage.
19-20 Garlick Hill, EC4V 2AU
Yeni || Civan Er
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsJQ_cTnRXz/
The restaurateur and chef behind Istanbul’s lauded Yeni Lokanta will be opening a restaurant on Beak Street in Soho this month. The menu, designed by Er, features a unique selection of plates that mingle authentic flavours with contemporary aesthetics. Among the signature dishes on offer are the over-roasted ribs, which come served on sourdough with cracked wheat, sour cherries and sumac molasses, or the kadajifi custard fritters with smoked buffalo milk ice cream.
55 Beak St, W1F 9SH
Yopo || Rami Fustok
Serge et Le Phoque will be replaced by Yopo at The Mandrake Hotel in Fitzrovia. Yopo, named after a Venezuelan jungle plant, will bring South American influences to a modern European menu. Dishes on offer include, sea bass, blood orange, red onion and nasturtium ceviche, grilled octopus with ‘aji pancha’, and a dessert made from double-fermented itakuja chocolate with yoghurt sorbet, salted caramel, fennel pollen, and olive oil.
20 – 21 Newman Street, W1T 1PG
Ooty || Manmeet Singh Bali
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtO5QBJnhKr/
Chef Manmeet Singh Bali is focusing on the food of southern India at Ooty, offering dishes like Tellicherry crab fry with coconut crab relish; fennel paneer with samphire pulao and Hyderabadi tomato kut; guinea fowl biryani; Keralan lime lobster with shellfish charu and squid ink idli; and Goan chicken cafreal with cucumber rolls. In the basement, the Ooty Club bar riffs on an 18th century lodge, taking inspiration from railway journeys across India.
66 Baker St, Marylebone, W1U 7DJ
Angelina || Joshua Owens-Baigler, Robin Beparry & Daniele Ceforo
Angelina will serve dishes inspired by Italian and Japanese cuisine, offering a distinct take on fusion cooking. Owner Joshua Owens-Baigler has spent time at the River Cafe and Artusi, collaborating with chefs Robin Beparry and Daniele Ceforo. The eatery offers a daily changing, eight-course tasting menu, with dishes like unagi risotto with burnt soy butter and dashi; crudite of tuna, prawn and bream; sirloin with radicchio and hibachi; and black sesame panna cotta and milk chocolate.
56 Dalston Lane, E8 3AH
Feature image via Maremma